NCAA: Sweet 16/Elite 8

[superdave]

Dawkins just got T'd up. They seem to be playing Dayton's pace. Need to change that up

Dayton up 11 late in first half.

[gumbomoop]

Rooting for Stanford, of course. "Glad" to see players on other teams ball-watch instead of blocking out, as just happened before the under-4 TO. Maybe it's more common with zone, but this is for a chance at EE. Cannot ball-watch.

[gumbomoop]

First Dayton opportunity of second half - Powell ball-watching, Dayton hustle, 2 points.

Admittedly, the bigger story is that Dayton is just rolling, hitting shots, while Stanford looks more like the ok team from mid-season.

[gumbomoop]

Nice run by Stanford, then Nastic got lazy receiving entry pass, stupid 4th foul. Powell has to be the guy.

[gumbomoop]

Nastic's earlier lazy play and 4th foul now means he fouls out. Two really lazy Stanford passes lead to steals, but I think this latest one won't kill, as Dayton player OB. Dayton playing harder, smarter, more hustle. Stanford big guys ball-watching, giving up O-rebounds.

Have to give Miller great credit for game plan, and his guys just executing to near-perfection.

[CameronDuke]

Dayton advances to the Elite 8. If UVa can somehow beat Michigan State tomorrow the ACC will have at best the same number of teams in the Elite 8 as the A10. If UVa loses tomorrow the A10 can rightfully say that their conference placed a team further in the NCAA Tournament than the ACC.

What a strong showing for Dayton and the A10 in the dance this year. They have now beaten the Big Ten, ACC, and PAC 12 in March in the dance when it counts. You have to congratulate them.

[Atlanta Duke]

Condi Rice and Richard Sherman brought more star power to the Stanford cheering section but Coach Miller's wife deserves more screen time

Wonder how much peace a Sweet Sixteen run will buy Coach Dawkins?

[OldPhiKap]

Refs trying to help Stanford, but the players just won't oblige.

[gumbomoop]

Just switched over to end of Wisconsin-Baylor, and one of announcers said any Wisconsin player who misses a block-out goes to the bench for awhile. That's how Bo does it, and the players understand it.

[gumbomoop]

Rooting for Stanford, but Miller and his guys did everything right, and absolutely deserved to win.

Assuming Johnny is renewed, I hope Randle doesn't declare, because if he and Johnny come back, they've got 3 solid starters returning, some promising guards, and Reid Travis coming in. Given that Stanford loses 2 good forwards, Travis should start from the start.

[CameronDuke]

I think it is remarkable that Archie and Sean Miller were the first brothers to ever be head coaches and lead their teams to the Sweet 16 in the same season. How amazing would it be if Arizona took care of business and the two led their teams to the Elite 8 in he same year? I imagine their family is one proud family right now.

[MulletMan]

Flllllllllllyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzz!

Congrats to JD, Mike, et al on a great run.

But let me say again.... FLLLLYYYYYAAAAAZZZZZ!

[Trey21]

Kyle Anderson is a really special talent. Does it all for UCLA. He hasn't played that great of a game tonight. It'll be interesting to see how he does in the league. He shows flashes of dominance in college but I'd imagine it will take a couple years for him to adjust to the NBA pace. He can influence the game in a variety of ways.

[MCFinARL]

Dayton advances to the Elite 8. If UVa can somehow beat Michigan State tomorrow the ACC will have at best the same number of teams in the Elite 8 as the A10. If UVa loses tomorrow the A10 can rightfully say that their conference placed a team further in the NCAA Tournament than the ACC.

What a strong showing for Dayton and the A10 in the dance this year. They have now beaten the Big Ten, ACC, and PAC 12 in March in the dance when it counts. You have to congratulate them.

A very strong showing for Dayton, yes, and they do deserve congratulations. Not sure it's all that strong a showing for the A10, which has had similar results to the ACC--one team to the Elite 8 [UVA not there yet but can get there tonight], one team losing in the second (technically the "third") round to two for the ACC [St. Louis/UNC, Syracuse], three teams losing in the first round to two for the ACC [GW, VCU, St. Joe's/Duke, NCState].

While the Atlantic 10 won both of the head-to-head matchups against the ACC in the tournament, NC State might well have upset St. Louis in the first round had they not played 5 games in 7 days--and the other one was Dayton, which is playing extremely well. Fifth seeded VCU's loss to 12-seed Stephen F. Austin, who were handled easily by UCLA in the next round, was not much better than Duke's loss to Mercer, even though for obvious reasons it drew a lot less attention. And 6 seed UMass was manhandled by 11 seed Tennessee.

If, under the circumstances, you want to argue that having similar results to the ACC is a strong showing, I'll accept that. But in the bigger scheme of things I think this success is more Dayton's than the A10's.

Just switched over to end of Wisconsin-Baylor, and one of announcers said any Wisconsin player who misses a block-out goes to the bench for awhile. That's how Bo does it, and the players understand it.

If Duke had done that this year, we might have seen some pretty strange lineups on the floor at times.

[Mike Corey]

That's for you, MulletMan.

Really looking forward to tonight's MSU-Virginia game. I anticipate a very fun duel between the backcourts.

[CameronDuke]

A very strong showing for Dayton, yes, and they do deserve congratulations. Not sure it's all that strong a showing for the A10, which has had similar results to the ACC--one team to the Elite 8 [UVA not there yet but can get there tonight], one team losing in the second (technically the "third") round to two for the ACC [St. Louis/UNC, Syracuse], three teams losing in the first round to two for the ACC [GW, VCU, St. Joe's/Duke, NCState].

While the Atlantic 10 won both of the head-to-head matchups against the ACC in the tournament, NC State might well have upset St. Louis in the first round had they not played 5 games in 7 days--and the other one was Dayton, which is playing extremely well. Fifth seeded VCU's loss to 12-seed Stephen F. Austin, who were handled easily by UCLA in the next round, was not much better than Duke's loss to Mercer, even though for obvious reasons it drew a lot less attention. And 6 seed UMass was manhandled by 11 seed Tennessee.

If, under the circumstances, you want to argue that having similar results to the ACC is a strong showing, I'll accept that. But in the bigger scheme of things I think this success is more Dayton's than the A10's.



If Duke had done that this year, we might have seen some pretty strange lineups on the floor at times.

In my opinion, if UVA loses tonight and the A10 sends one team to the elite eight while the entire ACC watches from the couch, it is a win for the A10 and a better showing in the NCAAT than the ACC. I generally think whichever conference sends a team further has a better tournament showing when compared head to head, not to mention Dayton was 6th in the regular season in the A10 and knocked off Cuse who was 2nd in the ACC. This is an example of the depth of the A10.

But if UVA loses tonight, it's hard to argue the ACC was a better conference in the NCAAT when they placed a 1, 2, and 3 seed in the dance and none reached the elite eight. That would mean a 1 seed reached the sweet 16, a 2 seed reached the round of 32, and a 3 seed didn't win a game in the dance. That is poor. It is not a great showing for the ACC. The ACC sucked majorly this NCAAT if that happens while Dayton overachieved for the A10.

[tommy]

A very strong showing for Dayton, yes, and they do deserve congratulations. Not sure it's all that strong a showing for the A10, which has had similar results to the ACC--one team to the Elite 8 [UVA not there yet but can get there tonight], one team losing in the second (technically the "third") round to two for the ACC [St. Louis/UNC, Syracuse], three teams losing in the first round to two for the ACC [GW, VCU, St. Joe's/Duke, NCState].

While the Atlantic 10 won both of the head-to-head matchups against the ACC in the tournament, NC State might well have upset St. Louis in the first round had they not played 5 games in 7 days--and the other one was Dayton, which is playing extremely well. Fifth seeded VCU's loss to 12-seed Stephen F. Austin, who were handled easily by UCLA in the next round, was not much better than Duke's loss to Mercer, even though for obvious reasons it drew a lot less attention. And 6 seed UMass was manhandled by 11 seed Tennessee.

If, under the circumstances, you want to argue that having similar results to the ACC is a strong showing, I'll accept that. But in the bigger scheme of things I think this success is more Dayton's than the A10's.



If Duke had done that this year, we might have seen some pretty strange lineups on the floor at times.

Not disagreeing with your analysis at all, but just the fact that such a discussion is happening at all re: the relative strength of the ACC and the Atlantic-10 is a sign of the times. And not a good one.

Hoping and assuming that the additions of Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame, and Louisville will make these types of discussions unnecessary in the future. But so far, it hasn't. Ugh.

[Dukehky]

I would just like to take the opportunity to say that I disagree with many Duke fans that we should pull for UVA to win the title because they are in the ACC. Screw the ACC, every other school in the conference hates Duke and treat us like crap. Our players, coaches, and fans get treated worse than everyone else in the conference combined if you take out the way State and UNC fans treat each other. I do not want UVA to win, I want them to lose, graduate all their players, then fall back into the middle of the conference, to return to contention in 3-4 years, like they will continue to do for the foreseeable future.

I don't care if it will make the conference look good at the end of this year. That doesn't matter. Duke lost in the first round, so it doesn't help make us seem like a better team to say that a FF team came from the ACC. The ACC can only look better if teams actually show consistent improvement and if we can start beating teams from other conferences in-season and post-season.

Other teams I am rooting against, in no particular order.

Louisville- I love Russ Smith, Hancock, and Harrell, but I don't want Pitino to get his 3rd ring, that's too close to K.

Florida: Billy Donovan is a slimeball. Wilbekin should have been kicked off the team twice, but Billy knew he couldn't win without him. According to Donovan's team rules, he shouldn't be on the team. (Note: I'm really glad to see that Scotty has turned it around and has shown he is a great on court leader and has kept it together off the court, good for him). I also don't want Donovan to get his 3rd ring, also too close to K.

UVA: Reasons previously stated

Kentucky: I actually really like the kids on that team, but they're Kentucky, and they're coached by the slimiest of the slimy.

UCONN: Duh, they and their striped friends robbed us of 2 more national titles, rot in hell.

Big 10 Schools: No real aversion to MSU, Wiscy, or Mich winning other than I think it's hilarious that they claim to be the best conference year in and year out, but they haven't won a title since 2000 and have won 3 in the past 30 years (IU-87, UM- 89, MSU-00). I would like for that joke to continue.

That leaves me with AZ- whom I have no real problem with I guess, and Iowa State which really could have won this thing if Niang hadn't gotten hurt, that was just brutal.

Dayton and Tennessee I don't really think have any real shot at winning, but whatever go for it you flying volunteers.

[sagegrouse]

I would just like to take the opportunity to say that I disagree with many Duke fans that we should pull for UVA to win the title because they are in the ACC. Screw the ACC, every other school in the conference hates Duke and treat us like crap. Our players, coaches, and fans get treated worse than everyone else in the conference combined if you take out the way State and UNC fans treat each other. I do not want UVA to win, I want them to lose, graduate all their players, then fall back into the middle of the conference, to return to contention in 3-4 years, like they will continue to do for the foreseeable future.

I'm pulling for UVa,m a defense-oriented team that plays the game the right way. Moreover, what's good for the ACC is probably good for Duke.

I don't see the actions of other ACC teams as hatred; to me, they are an indication of how much the fans want their team to beat Duke. In a way, it's a sign of respect. Even at Maryland, although their puerile couch-burning, profanity-laden, actions just prove they lack self-respect.

[Dukehky]

I'm pulling for UVa,m a defense-oriented team that plays the game the right way. Moreover, what's good for the ACC is probably good for Duke.

I don't see the actions of other ACC teams as hatred; to me, they are an indication of how much the fans want their team to beat Duke. In a way, it's a sign of respect. Even at Maryland, although their puerile couch-burning, profanity-laden, actions just prove they lack self-respect.

I will agree that the way other people view Duke would indicate that they do in fact see Duke as the standard in the ACC, as our new friend Wahoo started the thread on. I just don't see it in as positive a light as you do, but I certainly respect your view and wish that I could treat it like that.

I'm not sure I agree on say, UVA winning the national title being as good for the ACC as you do. Not really sure why, I just see things much more in terms of individual teams rather than it being any indication on the conference they were in. Like ff Florida wins, that's because they're a really good team, it doesn't mean that the SEC wasn't one of the worst basketball conferences in the country this year.